Lioness of Ara

[Peter Ward]

Adding RGB stars to this NB vista was something of a challenge. That said the O-association stars are nicely resolved, something not seen too often
with other examples on the web.



The link is here (http://www.atscope.com.au/BRO/gallery542.html)


The h-alpha data was plagued by the dreaded CMOS banding which I finally resolved in OIII and SII runs by bumping up the gain and lowering the USB traffic figure. As to whether I'll do another Ha run? ...meh...maybe ;)

[Pilgrim]

Fantastic! Very impressively deep looking image, cute tiny stars and fine processing.

[Startrek]

Peter,
Lovely image
Just about as good as it gets
I see your not a fan of CMOS cameras but obviously starting to work them out with excellent results
Well done !
Martin

[alpal]

Hi Peter,
that's a magnificent picture.
Thanks for sharing.


cheers
Allan

[JA]

Excellent Stuff ....:thumbsup:
The tiny stars and detail/contrast really help create a wonderful sense of depth/ 3D impression!

Best
JA

[Dave882]

Wow and other stunning shot! I agree with JA it’s definitely got a very 3d appearance to it. Beautiful!!

[Stephane]

Peter, this image is just sensational (as are your others). May I ask what exposure time you use for your SHO subs, and what your exposure for your stars are?

Many thanks,
Stéphane

[PKay]

As good as it gets Peter.

Very well done :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

Thank you one and all. The exposure details are on the linked page, just scroll down a tad. ;)

That said SII got the Loin's share ('scuse the pun :D ) of the exposure run....7 hours worth due the low flux levels at that end. OII and Ha were 4 hours each. (all 5 minute subs).

[keller60]

As others have said "as good as it gets". Thanks for posting.

[Retrograde]

It's a well-imaged target of course but your rendition really stands out.
That scope/flattener combo is something quite special. :thumbsup:

[Peter Ward]

Thanks guys....ironically I cropped the field as the full frame view didn't have the same impact. I might have done better to simply use the field flattener (to get the same framing)

rather than reducer on this one, begging the question how much more exposure at F7.0 (vs F5.0) would have been needed. :question:

Swings, roundabouts :)

[JA]

Well f/5 to f/7 is almost exactly a one stop difference, so you'd need twice* the exposure duration at f/7 compared with f/5 to capture the same amount of light. Of course then you'd have to track for twice as long, but i don't expect that would effect you Peter:D

Best
JA

*Approximately Twice, determined from the square of the aperture ratio (7/5)^2 = 1.96 ~ Twice

[pkinchington]

Lovely final image.
cheers Kanga

[Peter Ward]

Glad you enjoyed the view



Humm...didn't think it would make that much difference (actually on the stars, being a point source, then nil) but on extended objects...I'll take your word for it. :thumbsup:

That said...I'd rather crop the data than go another 15 hours :)

[gregbradley]

A wonderful image. Showing the beauty of the AP155, arguably one of Roland's finest creations.

Good you got more of a handle on the banding.

Refractor images are hard to beat. They have an innate beauty about them.

Greg.

[Peter Ward]

Thanks Greg....indeed if I could only keep one telescope, the AP155 would be it. :thumbsup:

[AstroViking]

Magic!!


Depending on where my eyes focused, I kept bouncing between the lioness and the fighting dragons...

[Shiraz]

yep, that is an exceptional image. Totally relaxing to view - everything looks "right". Cheers Ray

[Peter Ward]

Thanks Ray...one could get used to these small pixels ;)



Ta. My colour mapping was not entirely arbitrary...the big kitty needed to have golden-hued fur. :)